The moment we’ve all been waiting for ?
Submission grappling phenom Kade Ruotolo makes his MMA debut on
June 7 when he faces fellow American Blake Cooper at ONE
167!#ONE167
| Jun 7 at 8PM ET
???? Watch Live on Prime
???? Watch Live on Sky Sports
? Live TV broadcast in 190+? pic.twitter.com/A79zfWcOEA— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
April 5, 2024
One of the famed Ruotolo brothers is transitioning over to MMA very
soon.
According to ONE
Championship on Friday, Kade
Ruotolo (0-0) will be springboarding into MMA competition at
ONE 167. In his professional debut, the grappler will take on
Blake
Cooper (2-1) at 170 pounds, and they will come to blows inside
of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 21-year-old from Huntington Beach, California, has exclusively
competed as a submission grappler thus far. Currently the ONE
Lightweight submission grappling champ, he will be next rolling
with Francisco
Lo at One on Prime 21 at 180 pounds. Since joining the ONE
roster in 2021, the youngster has beaten the likes of Shinya Aoki,
Uali
Kurzhev, Matheus
Gabriel and Tommy
Langaker twice en route to the championship.
Cooper, brother of
Professional Fighters League champ Ray Cooper
III, turned pro in 2022. All three of his outings have ended
before the third round. Cooper made his ONE debut at ONE on Prime
14 in September 2023, and he succumbed to strikes from Maurice
Abevi to suffer his first loss.
ONE 167 will go down on June 7 at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in
Bangkok, Thailand. Headlining the event will be 115-pound
championship bout between Stamp
Fairtex and Denice
Zamboanga. Two other title tilts will serve on the billing, as
Tawanchai
P.K. Saenchai defends his 155-pound muay thai strap against Jo
Nattawut while Mikey
Musumeci puts his 145-pound submission grappling belt on the
line against Gabriel
Sousa.